Genius Prismatic Mage Chapter 313

#313. Reunion (3)

A crackling, murky voice cut across the space and pierced Ray's ears.

“I've been waiting for you.”

“… … .”

…were waiting for me?

Many questions arose in my mind, but I did not open my mouth.

He glanced down at his compass in his hand, raising his mana in preparation for the opponent's attack.

A needle pointing straight at a man.

There was not even the slightest movement in that state.

'Is this guy a doctor?'

It's not yet possible to be certain, but the probability is very high.

I reinforced the perimeter and took in the interior of the room through the perimeter.

There were two light sources.

Monitor behind the wheelchair man.

A broken magic light in the center of the ceiling.

All the lights were dim and the surrounding objects were shrouded in darkness, with only silhouettes barely visible.

Okay.

Suddenly a sound was heard from under my feet.

I lowered my head and looked down.

Fragments of the gem, glowing faintly red, were scattered throughout the room like shards of broken glass.

'Red blood stone.'

“There’s no need to be so cautious.”

Kikrik. Kikrik.

At that moment, a man's silhouette moved forward with the sound of wheelchair wheels rolling.

“I’m just an old man who can’t even move around properly on my own.”

Under the circular light cast by the magic light in the center, the figure of a man was revealed.

Sacred white hair and beard.

Cloudy and misty eyes.

The deep wrinkles of time on his face.

He looked so haggard and tired that he looked like he would crumble like a dry leaf if you touched him.

With a gesture from the old man, a table and chairs flew in and were placed silently in front of him.

“Sit down. Didn’t you come to see me?

“… … .”

“I think you probably have a lot of questions.”

Ray stared quietly at the old man.

His bowl was covered with colorful traces of past emotions.

It's like a palette that's been used for a long time and is covered in paint marks.

‘… the current emotions are not visible due to the traces of the past.’

As usual, you can't read the other person's mind.

It meant that you had to figure out their intentions only through their facial expressions and conversation.

Ray sat down for a moment.

“You must be a doctor.”

widely.

I put the compass on the table.

“No, Redran.”

“… … .”

The old man was silent.

He stared at the compass with an expression that seemed both angry and sad, then opened his mouth.

“… I guess that woman finally finished it. She tried everything to get in my way. Well, it must have been because the tracker was finished that you were able to come here.”

Ray was able to confirm through those words that the old man was a doctor.

“It sounds like you had a lot of contact with the Purple Guardians.”

“It would be more appropriate to say that it is a string of ill fate that has become so entangled that it cannot be untied, rather than a point of contact.”

Flutter.

The blanket that had been covering the old man's entire lower body flew away.

Below his knees there was only space. The old man had no legs.

“She was the one who found me at the Red Citadel and turned me into this. But, well, it’s not like I feel wronged. I paid her back as much as she did during the last battle.”

“Are you alive?”

“Is that what she said?”

Ray nodded slightly.

The old man smiled with difficulty.

“She fled my quarters with considerable injuries. She was most likely dead long ago, and I personally wish she had been… but lately, I’ve been thinking that I wish she were still alive.”

It was a vague, vague statement.

“Why?”

“Let’s say that the fire in my heart has gone out. More than that, I don’t have much time left. Let’s get to the point.”

The old man took a deep breath for a moment, as if it had been a long time since he had said so much in such a short time.

“First of all, I am a doctor, just as you think. I used to be called Redran so long ago that I can’t even remember. And I am the one who has been watching over you all this time.”

I've been watching you.

Ray turned his gaze to the monitor behind the doctor's back. It showed an outside view of the piles of scrap metal.

Before entering this place, a golem standing upright on the ground came to mind.

'It's not much different from what I expected.'

The doctor, whose movements were limited, seemed to have observed the world through the eyes of golems and homunculi.

However, judging from the fact that only one screen was currently on, it was assumed that there were no more servants left to use.

“That concludes my brief introduction. Okay, so who are you this time?”

What is the intention of the question?

I wonder if I have achieved self-awareness as a reincarnation of the rainbow.

“If you’ve been watching me, then there’s no need for me to introduce myself.”

“I’m asking who you think you are.”

“… … .”

The main purpose of his pursuit of the Doctor was to retrieve the red fragments and complete the rainbow.

But even though he was staring at the doctor right in front of him, the other fragments of the rainbow sleeping inside his body were not causing any resonance.

What numbers did the doctor write down?

Or maybe it's hidden somewhere else.

Although suppression through force did not seem difficult, there was concern that the situation could easily go wrong.

Especially now that I haven't figured out the doctor's plan.

Ray, who had decided to go along with the conversation, thought for a moment and then answered.

“My name is Ray, and I’ve come to retrieve the rainbow fragments you possess. Additionally, I intend to put an end to your plan to erase all emotions in the world.”

“Kuuuuuu.”

The doctor let out a long laugh.

Then suddenly he stopped and asked with shining eyes.

“Yes, that’s right. You’re creating a world where emotions don’t exist. You’ve seen right through my plan. But do you think that’s a bad thing?”

A world where emotions do not exist.

Is that right or wrong?

It was a problem I had pondered over several times before, but had never been able to come up with a logically perfect solution.

I just had that thought.

I think it would be quite sad if I could no longer feel these emotions that I am enjoying now.

Maybe back then in Sector 50, I didn't know, but now I know the texture and feel of the emotions in the world.

Ray said in a sharp voice.

“I think a world with emotions is much better than a world without emotions.”

“Yeah, I guess you would think so.”

The doctor nodded as if he had expected it and continued speaking.

“Would you like to make a bet?”

Bet? Ray asked with his eyes.

“You and I have different thoughts. You support the current world where emotions exist, and I long for the world of the beginning where emotions did not exist. We persuade each other to change the other’s thoughts. If you win, I will hand over the hidden red fragments without any questions. However, if I win─”

Phew.

A moment of choosing your breath.

The doctor completed the sentence in a meaningful voice.

“─You don’t have to do anything.”

“You don’t have to do anything?”

“Yes. If there is a change in values, you will move in the direction I want.”

A fierce wind blew through the room in an instant, scattering shards of red stone on the floor in all directions.

Ray was already standing in front of the wheelchair, lifting the doctor up by the neck.

“It seems much easier and more convenient to threaten you here and now by holding your lifeline.”

“Haha, gulp…! How fun…! If you can, do it…! Shortening the lifespan of an old man who has no more strength left…! What, gulp…! Would that be difficult…!”

As expected, the doctor was out of breath but not at all intimidated.

Ray roughly put the doctor down, then returned to his seat and sat down hard.

“Try to convince her.”

There was also some doubt.

I wonder if my thoughts can remain unshaken in any situation.

“Coolook… ! Coolook… !”

The doctor muttered something with a secret smile that had no meaning.

And the next moment.

The surrounding scenery has changed.

“… … .”

The table was located in the middle of an endless gray-white meadow.

There were also various races walking around with expressionless faces and mechanical gaits.

Then the doctor in front said.

“In the beginning, all living beings on our earth lived in harmony. No, rather than harmony, it would be more appropriate to say a state of mechanical equilibrium. There was no joy, no sorrow, no worry, no emotion. It was a world of infinite straight lines, moving forward without any ups and downs.”

The same scenery I once saw in the memories of the World Tree.

This was assumed to be a past memory that the doctor was revealing.

“It was a stable world, with no development but no regression either. And then he appeared.”

Beneath the seven-colored, halved ring across the meadow.

A human-shaped silhouette made of colorful lights appeared.

“A rainbow descended upon the earth, and a flower called emotion began to bloom in the world.”

The silhouette stopped in front of the old races who approached with lifeless expressions.

and.

Paat──

It split into rays of light of various colors and scattered all over the world.

The seven colored rings were reconciled into one jewel and remained before the ancient races.

“After that, development was a moment. Because emotions shook our very lives.”

The world has created expressions.

The old races cried, laughed, and rejoiced.

“Mana resonated with our emotions and lent us her power. After that, the world began to develop at a rapid pace, as if to compensate for its previous standstill.”

The surrounding scenery began to change rapidly, as if in fast forward.

Before we knew it, we could see the old races each building their own cities and developing.

There is also the appearance of dividing the originally single jewel into seven parts.

“But peace and prosperity did not last long. Emotions were always ambivalent and began to have a negative impact on us.”

Emotions aren't just the kind that lead to a positive outlook on life.

Jealousy, anger, fear, envy.

Dissatisfaction, resentment, irritation, boredom.

There were countless other emotions that led to irrational judgments.

The old races had no immunity whatsoever to it.

“As you may know, there is a war.”

The landscape turned into a battlefield.

─Die! Die!

─These fu*king dwarf bastards!

─Don't show mercy! Cut off his head right away!

Screams and shouts, blood flowing.

Burning flames and collapsing buildings.

The dark emotions that swept through him like a storm made Ray feel nauseous.

The doctor did not take his eyes off Ray's face.

“If the public enemy had not appeared then, we might all have truly walked the path to destruction.”

The next moment, the figure that appeared on the battlefield was a giant covered in blue mana.

'Khum.'

In its prime, Khum was much larger than when we had previously encountered him.

The color of the blue mana surrounding the body was also dark, almost black.

─Goooooooo!

The emergence of a threatening being caused all races to cease war and join forces.

And sealed the quoll.

“Everyone came to their senses as if they had just woken up from a long dream. They looked back on the terrible atrocities we had caused and were shocked. They were ashamed, sad, and regretful. Each race made a peace treaty and began to rebuild their capitals.”

The scenery quickly passed by, and the corpses and bloodstains on the battlefield began to disappear in an instant.

However, the devastated land remained the same.

No matter how much time passes.

“… … .”

Ray looked up at the sky.

As a side effect of mixing too many colored manas, the sky was covered in black clouds.

Then the doctor's voice was heard.

“I thought. This war was caused by conflict between races. If one race were to rule the world, such tragedies would not occur in the future.”